First Financial Bancorp. (FFBC) Competitors

SouthState (NASDAQ:SSB) and First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, media sentiment, valuation, risk, profitability, analyst recommendations, community ranking, earnings and institutional ownership.

Do institutionals and insiders believe in SSB or FFBC?

89.8% of SouthState shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 77.2% of First Financial Bancorp. shares are held by institutional investors. 1.7% of SouthState shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.0% of First Financial Bancorp. shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Does the media favor SSB or FFBC?

In the previous week, SouthState had 3 more articles in the media than First Financial Bancorp.. MarketBeat recorded 10 mentions for SouthState and 7 mentions for First Financial Bancorp.. SouthState's average media sentiment score of 1.40 beat First Financial Bancorp.'s score of 1.31 indicating that SouthState is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
SouthState	7 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
First Financial Bancorp.	4 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has better earnings & valuation, SSB or FFBC?

SouthState has higher revenue and earnings than First Financial Bancorp.. First Financial Bancorp. is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than SouthState, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
SouthState	$1.67B	5.59	$534.78M	$6.96	13.20
First Financial Bancorp.	$835.58M	2.83	$228.83M	$2.40	10.32

Do analysts rate SSB or FFBC?

SouthState currently has a consensus price target of $115.90, suggesting a potential upside of 26.16%. First Financial Bancorp. has a consensus price target of $31.67, suggesting a potential upside of 27.91%. Given First Financial Bancorp.'s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe First Financial Bancorp. is more favorable than SouthState.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
SouthState	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.80
First Financial Bancorp.	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33

Which has more volatility and risk, SSB or FFBC?

SouthState has a beta of 0.68, suggesting that its stock price is 32% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, First Financial Bancorp. has a beta of 0.99, suggesting that its stock price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is SSB or FFBC a better dividend stock?

SouthState pays an annual dividend of $2.16 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. First Financial Bancorp. pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. SouthState pays out 31.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. First Financial Bancorp. pays out 40.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. SouthState has increased its dividend for 13 consecutive years.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer SSB or FFBC?

SouthState received 228 more outperform votes than First Financial Bancorp. when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 61.72% of users gave SouthState an outperform vote while only 46.37% of users gave First Financial Bancorp. an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
SouthState	Outperform Votes 503 61.72%	Underperform Votes 312 38.28%
First Financial Bancorp.	Outperform Votes 275 46.37%	Underperform Votes 318 53.63%

Is SSB or FFBC more profitable?

SouthState has a net margin of 22.38% compared to First Financial Bancorp.'s net margin of 18.67%. First Financial Bancorp.'s return on equity of 10.52% beat SouthState's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
SouthState	22.38%	9.62%	1.21%
First Financial Bancorp.	18.67%	10.52%	1.38%

Summary

SouthState beats First Financial Bancorp. on 15 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.